Full Idea
All efforts which we make through reason are nothing but efforts to understand, and the mind, in so far as it uses reason, adjudges nothing as profitable to itself excepting that which conduces to understanding.
Gist of Idea
Understanding is the sole aim of reason, and the only profit for the mind
Source
Baruch de Spinoza (The Ethics [1675], IV Pr 26)
Book Reference
Spinoza,Benedict de: 'Ethics', ed/tr. White,WH/Stirling,AH [Wordsworth 2001], p.181
A Reaction
I wish philosophers would agree that the aim of their subject is to achieve broad and general understanding of reality - and nothing else. If you want to change the world, that isn't philosophy. If you think understanding is impossible, drop philosophy.
Related Idea
Idea 17212 To understand is the absolute virtue of the mind [Spinoza]